Truth

TRUTH

Truth is a bizarre thing. The concept of truth is easy to grasp on a simple level. Unfortunately, life is not simple and thus truth is not simple either. People will say that truth is the absence of falsehood. One definition of truth is conformity with fact or reality. This seems like a pretty cut and dry definition of truth, but if we look deeper into the concept it becomes easy to see that truth, like life, is not simple.

The truth is something that is different for each person. Every single one of us has a unique experience with the world, a vision of events that is ours and ours alone. Ask five people to describe a house to you and you will get five different versions of the same house. This is because each of us experiences that house in a different way and will notice different things about it.

I might notice that the house is painted red, had large windows, six rooms etc. Someone else will notice the large yard, the chain link fence, the leaking sink in the kitchen. Yet another person will notice the stain in the carpet, the pain on the interior walls, and the way the back-door creaks. These are true. These are real things, but these observations are not complete.

When someone sets out to find the truth they often find themselves frustrated because the truth is not that simple. The truth isn't a single person's experience. The truth isn't a single group of people's experiences. The truth is not even everyone's experience. The truth is something that exists beyond our ability to understand. Yet, truth is also something we rely on, without truth none of us would be able to accomplish anything.

When I wake up I am sleeping in a bed. That is the truth. When I go down the stairs, they support my body. That is also the truth. When it comes to physical objects, it's easy to find the truth. However, when it comes to recalling events in our life, the truth can be a lot harder to find. I wake up in a firm bed every morning. My spouse wakes up in a soft bed every morning. It's the same bed, but we both see that bed differently. Both of us are telling the truth, but neither of us is telling the entire truth.

Writing about yourself is a lot like that. You set out wanting to tell the truth. You don't want to mislead people and you don't think of yourself as a liar. The problem is that my truth is based off my experiences and those experiences differ from other people. I want to tell the truth, but the only truth I can tell is my truth. That doesn't mean I am lying or telling the wrong things, it simply means that I experienced the truth in one way and other people experienced it a different way.

My truth is going to hurt some people but it is also going to help others heal. My truth is going to paint some people in an unfavorable color while it will exalt others. My truth is going to be an imperfect truth, but it is still my truth. As you read the following words, pages, and chapters, remember that this is indeed the truth. However, also keep in mind that these pages are my truth, and my truth, just like everyone else's, is imperfect.